


Proof (a Hunnigan's DSO file)

by musetraxed (muselives)



Category: Biohazard | Resident Evil (Gameverse)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-29
Updated: 2020-02-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:34:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22943362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/muselives/pseuds/musetraxed
Summary: Leon Kennedy and Helena Harper return to the DSO after chasing a lead on the Family at the personal request of Director Ingrid Hunnigan.
Kudos: 5
Collections: Hunnigan's DSO





	Proof (a Hunnigan's DSO file)

**Author's Note:**

> Set post- _RE6_ , prior to [Safe for Christmas](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22822288). Additional details in the collection profile. Story edited only by myself, all mistakes my own.

The last thing Leon Kennedy wanted was anyone accusing him of feeling his age. That was partly what was so frustrating about Helena Harper, the junior agent who had become his official partner since the global bio-terror attacks earlier this year. While Helena usually turned her ‘take no prisioners’ attitude on the people they were investigating, she was also one of the few people in the DSO who knew him--really knew him--and wasn’t afraid to turn investigative eye on her partner, legend or not.

“You alright?” she asked, with the kind of curl to one side of her mouth that suggested she was remembering how to smile. While they had both gone through hell in Tall Oaks, for Helena, it had started before the chemical attacks that claimed 70,000 lives and the life of the president, Leon’s friend, Adam Benford. For Helena, the nightmare began days before with the kidnap of her younger sister Deborah.

 _Only twenty years old._ That was the thought Leon had every time he thought of young Deborah Harper, kidnapped and injected with an experimental virus that ultimately claimed her life. He’d barely been older when he made it through Raccoon City but he’d at least had training and the intention of being a cop. She was just a kid in college, trying to enjoy her life.

Like Leon, Helena had a protector’s urge twined through her DNA. She had done everything she could for her sister, caving and becoming Simmon’s weak point to breach the president’s security. The former national security advisor might have actually managed to pin it on the two of them--but his obsession with Ada Wong, right down to the duplicate he created, and the abandonment of his Family had given Leon and his partner the edge.

Coming back to the present, Leon uncrossed his arms and straightened up from the wall of the elevator with a soft huff of breath. “Fine.”

“Sure you’re not tired? In need of a few days off? It’s been non-stop.”

It had only been non-stop for a few weeks and that was after a long period of sitting on their hands. Too long in Leon’s opinion but if there was anyone who could get him to sit on his hands it was DSO’s new director, Ingrid Hunnigan. They went back almost ten years now and she had had her own friendship with Adam, one Leon knew very little about, but he respected her loss all the same.

Hunnigan seemed to have taken it very personally that such a serious threat to national security had gotten so close to the presidency. She certainly hadn’t been jumping for joy as the credible intel started coming in suggesting the new vice president had his own ties to Simmon’s secret group.

But Hunnigan was also the furthest thing from an open book. She didn’t share anything personal really so Leon had learned to trust her on the merit of her results. Theirs was a strictly working relationship. The new president had elevated her from the ranks right up to the head of the DSO, Leon couldn’t think of a better candidate to handle the American fight against bio-terror. His only complaint--made only once to Harper who irritatingly went on to remember it to him any time he was being difficult--was that Hunnigan’s new role meant she was no longer the face on their screens when they took intel calls.

Until three weeks ago when she contacted him directly with a lead. “ _I need proof_ ,” Hunnigan told him, and Leon had grabbed Helena to go find it for her. The two of them ended up digging into the remains of a Family research facility. They cleaned up the mess, including two new mutations that he suspected the BSAA with their research divisions would want to get hands on now that site was secured.

But damn it, he did feel his age. He’d have been in a few tight spots if not for Harper and he was starting to wonder if Hunnigan had paired him with the younger agent with the intention of him mentoring a replacement. He could think of a worse one but what got under his skin was the idea that Hunnigan, probably the last person he trusted in this business, thought he should be easing his way out of the game.

He realized Helena’s gaze hadn’t wavered from him for the last five floors and he swore internally.

She still had that almost smile tugging up the corner of her mouth. “Are you always this nervous seeing the boss?”

“Nervous?” His voice was wry and, to his ears, weary. “Hunnigan doesn’t scare me.”

“I didn’t say that,” his partner replied.

He turned to give her a look. Helena responded with one of her own.

Leon had been fighting zombies for the better part of his life. He’d have gladly gone back into that hellhole of a family estate then have to try to guess what his partner was thinking right now as she fixed him with that expression.

“What?”

“Do you still call her Hunnigan?” Helena asked, breaking into a full on smile now as she shifted more towards Leon’s side.

“Only if there’s no one else to give me grief,” Leon grumbled. He remembered Adam pulling him aside after the rescue mission in Spain with then-President Graham’s daughter. “ _Leon, you’ve got to give that young woman her due_ ,” was his admonishment to the young federal agent who had flirted with his support as the end of the op. “ _She’s smarter than you and I put together, and she’s going places. Don’t blow it and make command pair her with someone else._ ”

Adam was right, of course. Hunnigan had been an invaluable resource, something he’d learned when he was briefly partnered with another FOS support who didn’t seem to have everything down pat. He had made his complaints known in the right spaces and from then on, well, in a lot of ways, his partner had been Hunnigan. She wasn’t out in the field, boots on the ground, but she made things happen. He remembered how proudly Adam had talked about her push to get the president to vaccinate the Marines who had helped at the Harvardville Airport. “ _That was quick thinking,_ ” was the best compliment he’d had at hand at the time.

Quick thinking was what Hunnigan did. Quick thinking and deep thinking. Leon hadn’t tried to pick her brain on where this investigation of the Family was leading or what she thought it had to do with DSO’s mission but so far the president hadn’t reigned her in. If he shared her suspicions about his vice president, he sure didn’t tip his hand but Leon honestly didn’t put that much stock in the new guy overall. Adam had been one of a kind. Most politicians? Cut from the same cloth. Only interested in horror stories and photo ops. Leon was only willing to be the sharp end of the knife because he believed in the mission and maybe his respect for the office, if he could call it that.

Of course, when they got off the elevator and made their way to the office, Hunnigan’s door was open but there was somebody else in there. That meant that Leon defaulted to her proper title instead, nodding his head slightly as he greeted her, “Director.”

“Agent Kennedy.” There wasn’t a smile there and it was a bit stiff in return but this seemed to be their patter now that she’d been elevated and there were other eyes and ears in the room. “Agent Harper.”

Helena looked between the two of them and gave a bigger nod, repeating, “Director.”

“This is Special Agent LaRue from the FBI. He asked if he could sit in on this debrief, if that’s alright.”

Pure formality. Hunnigan’s word was law and Leon wouldn’t challenge her, especially in front of a stranger. He waved away the question of permission and Helena just gave another nod as they both moved to take their seats.

Two hours later, feeling even more tired and now parched from all his talking, Leon got back to his feet to shake LaRue’s hand and do the necessary farewells. The visiting agent asked where he could get a coffee and Helena volunteered to show him the way to the break room. He had to wonder how intentional that was given the way his partner looked at him before closing the door behind her on her way out.

Leon turned back to Hunnigan, moving towards her desk. “Did we get what you needed?” he asked her, stopping on one side of the desk while she stood next to her chair on the other.

In a sudden display of frustration, Hunnigan sighed and brought one hand up to her forehead, closing her eyes. Leon noted the glasses, the cut of her suit, the way she still wore her hair pulled back in a tight functional bun that gave such a clear frame to her face. Her promotion could have afforded a few fineries but she seemed largely unaltered, still relying on a no-frills, no-nonsense business look to lend credence to her authority.

When she opened her eyes and straightened up again, he stared into her eyes. He’d gotten used to having a screen between them, a kind of buffer for the bright hazel intensity that felt like it was piercing right through him. “I don’t know,” she said honestly, and while she looked unhappy about that fact, she stayed focus, moving back to her seat.

Leon mirrored her by sitting down on his side of the desk. “What is it? Something new with the vice president?”

“No, not exactly. You would think with an organization that calls itself a Family, it’d be a little easier to establish a link between members.”

That was as close as he’d come to expect as a joke from her and he gave another soft huff, this time meaning it as laughter. “It was a good lead, Hunnigan. We found those new strains, made sure that old place is out of business. If the FBI wants to take it off our hands from here, that suits me fine. I want to stay where the action is.”

“I know you do.” Leon chose to hear affection in what otherwise sounded like an exasperated tone. “But the game has changed since the global attacks. Neo-Umbrella served as a good reminder that if people put all their eggs in the bio-terror basket, not only are they going up against the DSO but also the BSAA.”

“And we’re a lot more effective on that front since you’ve pushed for inter-agency cooperation,” he pointed out.

She met his gaze again and he held it, curious what she would say next. “I’ve been pushing for more of that for years now, Leon. I’d hoped that Adam--” The slight pause here was her only tell that she was still grieving the loss of their mentor and friend, “Would have had better luck opening channels between the DOD branches and other law enforcement. We knew it’d be harder going with the BSAA but we always hoped someday...” She punctuated the exact details of that hope with a shrug.

“It’s making a difference. Better that the DSO stays focused on live incidents--we’ve got the best agents for handling bio-terror attacks and containment issues. The FBI can bus a crime scene, no problem. If they learn anything we don’t know, well, maybe we’ll be one step closer to catching the bastards that helped Simmons.”

“I hope so.” She rallied a little at that. “Helena’s submitted for a few days off. What do you want?”

He shook his head. “I’d rather you gave us that lead in Cairo but she carried me this last mission. I can wait until she’s recharged before we get out there.”

“She probably requested the time to make sure you’d stop.”

Leon gave another laugh, clearer but with less mirth, as he lifted his hands in a shrug. “What am I going to do with myself, Hunnigan? This is the only thing I’m good at. And Helena’s picking it up fine, before you ask. She’ll be a good lead agent, if and when you decide she’s going to start tackling things on her own.”

“Given Agent Harper’s propensity to think she knows best and go at it her own way, I’d like her to keep learning how to play for the team,” the director said wryly.

One of his eyebrows went up at that. “You really think I’m the model of a team player?” he asked.

“No, but you won’t leave her behind. She respects that. It means you two can at least trust each other. Although I wish you’d extend the same courtesy to John.” She arched an eyebrow after naming their newly assigned, still fairly green support tech.

Leon gave another huff. “That kid’s calls go through to Helena just fine. It’s not like we’re hanging up every time he calls in.”

“Yes, but you always make Helena take the call.” She gave him a look and said, “Sometimes, Agent Kennedy, support has something to tell _you_ directly. I know you’re capable of answering your phone.”

“Is that an order, Director?”

“Only if you make it one. Leon.” She softened slightly. “Please.”

He got up out of the chair, not as smoothly as he wanted, already waiving a hand. “I’ll answer my phone. But I won’t promise I won’t hang up on him if he doesn’t get to the point.”

Hunnigan smiled up at him. “As long as you’re answering.”

He made it as far as the door before he turned back to her. “You’re sure you OK?”

She hummed and nodded, turning her attention back to the papers on the desk.

This was about as personal as they ever got and Leon doubted today was the day she’d be willing to go further. He smiled, if only briefly, as he opened the door, calling back over his shoulder as he left, “Don’t work too hard, Director.”

“Of course not, Agent Kennedy,” she replied, not looking up from the file she’d just started on.

Leon sighed and headed towards the break room. He felt run down, weary, and Hunnigan already had the bit in her mouth, starting the chase over again. He took a deep breath and rallied. Fine. Helena had forced his hand with a few days off state-side. Maybe he’d actually make use of his desk and see if he couldn’t help his old support find a better lead for them to work on. In the end, he was still on deck, still ready to go back in the field. It would happen soon enough. It always did.


End file.
